Having your PC suddenly freeze in the middle of working is frustrating. Next time you lot need to fix a frozen figurer and don't want to restart, there's a little-known shortcut that might assistance you recover from 1 common cause.

Let'south look at a handy keyboard shortcut yous probably don't know about, then discuss a few more quick tips for getting your frozen computer running again.

Windows offers a little-known shortcut that volition restart your video drivers. If you're not familiar, video drivers are software that allows Windows to interface with the graphics hardware in your computer.

To reset your graphics drivers when your computer is frozen, printing the following key combination: Win + Ctrl + Shift + B.

When yous press these keys, your screen will go black for a moment, and you lot'll hear a beep while the video commuter resets. Afterward a few seconds, your display will render. Since this only affects your graphics drivers, all your open up apps remain exactly where you left them. You won't lose any saved piece of work.

This but works on Windows 8 and newer, so Windows seven users can't take reward of it. However, it will work no matter what kind of video menu you have. Nvidia, AMD, and even Intel integrated graphics will reset with this shortcut.

More Troubleshooting Tips for a Frozen Computer

Depending on the cause of the freeze, this shortcut may or may not fix your issue. If your graphics commuter gets stuck, restarting information technology should let you continue on without having to restart your computer. But if this doesn't work, your PC is probably frozen from something more than than your video bill of fare.

As a next troubleshooting stride, try pressing Alt + Tab to switch to some other plan. If it's still stuck and you don't see the card switcher appear, attempt Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open up the Job Manager and kill any unresponsive programs. You should as well know how to force-shut apps without using the Chore Manager.

Should neither of these work, give Ctrl + Alt + Del a press. This is a special fundamental combination that only the operating organisation can reply to, making it an of import stride when checking for a frozen PC.

If your estimator is frozen and Ctrl + Alt + Del isn't working after some time, yous'll need to difficult shutdown your computer by property its power button for several seconds. Should that fail to work, and you're using a desktop, yous tin pull the power plug. While it'due south best to avoid doing this unless you absolutely accept to, sometimes it'due south the only way to escape a full organization freeze.

If y'all run into this trouble regularly, cheque out our guide to Windows x freezes.

Fix a Frozen Computer Now

Knowing handy shortcuts like these volition make it easier to set up problems equally they arise. While this won't correct all PC freezes, it should patch upwards annihilation related to your video drivers locking upwardly. Someday you don't have to restart from these bug is a small-scale win.

To diagnose deeper problems, yous should learn most the most common reasons that Windows becomes unresponsive.

Why Does Windows Get Unresponsive? 8 Common Reasons

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Ben Stegner (1808 Articles Published)

Ben is the Editor in Principal at MakeUseOf. He left his Information technology job to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked dorsum. He's been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more every bit a professional writer for over 8 years.

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